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Shaadi Ke Side Effects ~ Review

Farhan Akhtar and Vidya Balan play a bored married couple in Shaadi Ke Side Effects. Saurin Shah provides the low-down on the story, performances, direction and music. Find out if it is one to watch or give a miss.

We all know the popular phrase: ‘Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus’ – and so many books, movies, TV series, newspaper columns, emails, Facebook articles, Twitter quotes and WhatsApp messages prove only one thing – that it has been one of our favourite pastimes talking about the relationships and never-ending differences between men and women.

We all like those movies where the man is shown as a complete weirdo and the lady is so dangerously unpredictable. Following this style, there was one such movie by the same makers of Pyaar Ke Side Effects (2006) with an interesting star cast that did win a lot of praise for its humour and excellent portrayal of the cupid pair, Sid and Trisha (Rahul Bose and Mallika Sherawat).

The makers knew we were all curious to know what happens after they both get married and how they tackle the challenges thrown by living together with each other’s likes, dislikes, mood swings and tantrums.

As we expect more laughter and fun this time what we get in Shaadi Ke Side Effects is a mild dose until the interval. Post interval the story stretches and becomes more serious but a good opportunity wasted none the less.

SHAADI KE SIDE EFFECTS

Story

Nice consistent and fresh but everything around a clichéd TV Soap-like plot.

Performances

Vidya is natural is her performance, Farhan also tries his best to keep humour throughout.

In a domestic household story you don’t vouch for locations and scenic moments but still up to mark with Pritish Nandi productions.

Music

While we can still play and enjoy the entire album of the first installment, this time all the songs easily fade away.

REVIEW SCORE

We were expecting more punch, tang and zing this time but the graph declines completely in all departments, just a one-time watch. Review Scores by Saurin Shah.

Sid and Trisha are both happily married, balancing career and a great party life. Things go beautifully romantic until the arrival of a new member to the family.

Having a baby to take care of does pose a nightmare for fathers and thus begins a continual pursuit to prove he can be a good parent too – a claim which the mother is going to dismiss any day.

How Sid finds a way to keep his married life alive and pleasant while at the same time not losing his real self becomes the basis of the film. Does he manage to balance responsibilities with his personal aspirations?

Saket Chaudhary has worked well to present a decent screenplay which follows its track from start to end. There is good amount of comedy and a plot to support the story but all goes in vain as the execution remains clumsy.

Farhan Akhtar riding high on the success of the Milkha Singh biopic (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, 2013) looks like the next-door married man and has got good expressions in various situations of the movie but we do miss the spontaneous Rahul Bose who was so lovable and funny as Sid.

Vidya Balan plays a housewife whose life revolves around her kid and husband and love that way. She is natural but so typical Vidya of her own movies like Ghanchakkar (2013) where she played the same role in the same way.

We so badly miss Sharat Saxena, the famous father in law or Trisha’s ‘Papa’ (ft. in Pyaar Ke Side Effects) and hence all the tussles between Sid and ‘Papa’.

Rati Agnihotri shies away from uttering a single dialogue, but Ila Arun gets more screen presence. Vir Das is terrific in his cameo of a carefree metro city freak. Above all, Ram Kapoor does stand out no matter what role he plays like all his movies.

The music is not really worth mentioning as none of the songs make much impact. ‘Brahmachari’ seems to be a popular club track while the reincarnation of ‘Pyaar (now Shaadi) karke pachhtaya’ is also not so interesting or hilarious.

Shaadi Ke Side Effects has some fun moments and a bit of serious stuff towards the end, an average one-time watch.

Saurin loves watching movies strongly believing each movie is worth a watch for the sheer hardwork and passion. As a reviewer he is hard to be pleased and his motto is 'A movie must take you to a different world, a world with more beauty, colour, thrill and a lot of sense'